Self Care Journal: How to Make a Self Care Journal (with Free Printables)

Learn how to make a self care journal to set your healthy resolutions for the New Year with these printable journal pages that are all about self care! This printable self care journal contains not just inspiration blank journal pages for writing down your thoughts and dreams, it also has pages for setting goals, healthy food recipes, skin care recipes and face mask recipes that fit your skin type each season. So you can use this journal throughout the year and start at any time.

Additionally, there’s also a self care checklist so you remember to take time out for self care at least once a week. I’ve even included a printable front and back cover that you can print onto cardstock to make a completely handmade self care journal if desired.

Keep reading to discover 60 self care journal prompts and my printable self care journal pages. You’ll also learn how to make a self care journal using my free resources. Plus there’s information I received from licensed therapist, Corinne Phillips, on how to break unhealthy habits and addictions through journaling, along with some great ideas and projects you can implement for self care.

DIY Self Care Journal

It’s a New Year and hopefully that means you’ve set your sights on some healthy resolutions to get you through the year. That means taking care not just of your physical health, but your emotional health as well. And what better way to learn how to put yourself first (so you can be there for others) than with a self care journal?

Journal Prompts & Ideas

Not sure what to write in your self care journal. If need some direction to get started, then try one of these self care journal prompts for self care and inner reflection.

• What makes me happy?
• What goals do I aspire to?
• Why do the people in my life make me happy?
• When am I most confident?
• What does my ideal day look like?
• Who is someone in your life who should treat me better?
• What do I want my legacy to be?
• Today my self care mantra is…
• How do I enrich the lives of others?
• What inspires me?
• I feel most energized when I do or experience these things.
• What is causing me stress right now?
• Is there a new craft or hobby I’d like to explore?
• What actions or bad habits are holding me back from a happier, richer life?
• What am I proud of myself for?
• How can I change my morning routine to make it easier?
• What is my favorite personality trait?
• What things make me feel powerful?
• How can I love myself today?
• What is my best accomplishment?
• Who is the person I want to become?
• What advice would I give my teenage self?
• The words I like to live by are…
• What makes me unique?
• How have I changed from the person I was five years ago?
• What message do I most want to share with the world?
• Ten reasons why I love myself.
• What am I afraid of?
• If I died tomorrow, how do I think I’d be remembered?
• Who in my life means the world to me and why?
• What changes can I make to slay my goals?
• My life feels like magic when…
• During difficult times, I’ve found that doing this helps the most.
• What’s something I can do to make my life a delight every single day?
• Make a list of twenty things that make me smile.
• Write a list of things I’m grateful for today.
• If I could take a vacation anywhere in the world, where would I go and who would go with me?
• What does forgiveness mean to me?
• How does journaling help me?
• What love means to me…
• On a scale of 1-10 my mental health is at…
• What do I wish my parents had done differently when raising me?
• Write a letter to my mom.
• What is my biggest regret and what have I done to make amends?
• I wish for….
• The two most memorable moments of my life are…
• What does unconditional love look like for me?
• I practice self care because I want to feel…
• Where is my happy space?
• If my body could talk, this is what it would say.
• What are three things I’m doing that no longer serve my best interests?
• Make a list of everything I should say “no” to.
• What do I love most about life?
• How will making myself a priority positively impact my life?
• What changes can I make to get a more restful night’s sleep?
• When I’m really busy, what activities can I do in just ten minutes to practice self care?
• How can I better balance my work and my personal life?
• What is my favorite self care quote?
• What are the things I truly, deeply need in my life?
• If I had unlimited resources and zero obligations, what would I do with my life?

Don’t feel like you need to write paragraphs for these journal prompts. You can bullets instead. For best results, however, it’s best not to go more than two days without putting something down on paper.

How to Make a Self Care Journal

Print the Journal Cover

Print the self care journal cover onto 8.5″ x 11″ cardstock. Then cut out the front and back cover. For best results, use a paper cutter to get straight, clean lines. Allow some white space around the black lines of the cover when cutting. (Download here.) I used my Epson Expression printer, which has been a dream to use.

Print the Journal Pages

This journal consists of 12 8.5″ x 11″ pages, each with two journal pages for a total of 24 pages for your self care journal. You can either print all of the pages or simply the pages you want. The pages include two each of the following:

• Skin care recipe cards
• Self care checklist pages
• Healthy recipe cards (here’s one of my fave healthy recipes to try!)
• Face mask recipe cards
• Pages for setting healthy goals

There are also fourteen lined journal pages featuring seven different motivational quotes and images.

Simply download the printable self care journal pages then print onto 8.5″ x 11″ paper. Then cut out the pages the same way you did the cover for the journal. (Download here.)

The pages are slightly smaller than the cover so they fit neatly inside. These printable self care journal pages will even fit inside your Happy Planner!

Assemble Your Journal

To assemble your journal, use a hole punch to punch holes into both the cover of your journal, if using, as well as the free printable self care journal pages. If you you are using a Happy Planner, you can use those pages as a guide both for cutting out your pages as well as lining up the holes properly.

Once you’ve punched holes into your journal pages, you can either add them to an existing journal, such as a Happy planner, or create a self care journal using the printed journal cover.

To use the provided journal cover, simply position the journal pages between the printed front and back cover. Then loose leaf binder rings to hold the cover and pages together.

Alternately, you don’t have to punch holes into your self care journal pages. Instead, you can use binder clips to hold the pages together in book form. Both methods, however, allow you to remove or add pages as desired.

Want printable self care planner stickers for your new journal? Here are a few you might like including these printable self care weekly planner stickers (pictured) from Love2Plan92.

Need more guidance on your self care journey? Check out this amazing sacred self care workbook or this therapy journal for mental health struggles.

Journaling to Break Unhealthy Habits & Addictions

If you’ve been reading Soap Deli News for some time, then you’re probably aware that I started seeing a therapist after a rather difficult end to what was an incredibly short second marriage. She has been a dream with helping me overcome emotional distress and work toward healthy emotional goals.

Recently I started seeing her again to help me break unhealthy habits. Three of the most important tips she gave me to help me break unhealthy habits and addictions were to 1.) not shame myself for these habits and 2.) find something positive to replace the habit you want to stop and 3.) focus on the benefits of breaking that unhealthy happy or addiction and the positive things that come from not doing it. These work for any number of unhealthy habits or addictions including alcohol consumption as well as binge eating.

She also gave me an acronym to use with journaling. That acronym is TICES. TICES stands for:

• Trigger
• Image
• Cognition
• Emotions
• Sensations

So basically, when you want to do whatever the unhealthy habit is you want to stop, you consider these five things and then write about them. For example, if you are trying to stop binge eating or give up alcohol (I chose these as examples as are they are so common) and you want to binge eat or drink, then stop and think about these five things. Then write down the following in your journal:

• What triggered you to want to binge eat or drink
• What images you see in your head when you are triggered
• What happened to lead you to the point that you want to binge eat or drink
• What emotions do you feel from being triggered
• What sensations your body is experiencing

I also recommend keeping a running list of all the wonderful things you experience both physically and emotionally when you aren’t engaging in that unhealthy habit. For example, if you are trying to quit drinking, then positive results would be weight loss, a more restful night’s sleep, increased productivity, etc. Then think about these positive benefits (rather than the negative results of the unhealthy habit) and all that you gain from quitting whenever you are triggered to engage in that unhealthy habit.

More Ways to Practice Self Care

Looking for more ways to practice self care in your day-to-day life? Try one of these other self care ideas and projects.

• Aromatherapy Sleep Spray Recipe for Restful Sleep
• DIY Shower Steamers for Self Care When You’re Sick
• Cookie Dough Bath Bomb Recipe for Relaxation
• Magnesium Body Butter Recipe to Ease Sore Muscles
• Blueberry Thyme Bath Salts for When You Some Time Out
• Creative Ways to Practice Self Care
• Ways to Use Essential Oils for Your Self Care Routine
• DIY Sun Catcher Craft Project for Art Therapy
• Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Indulge in Self Care
• Homemade Milk Bath Recipes for Self Care

If you love my free printable self care journal, then be sure to pin it to Pinterest for later.

For more great self care ideas as well as DIY bath and beauty recipes, be sure to follow Soap Deli News. You can follow me now on facebook, twitter, pinterest and instagram. Or find me on Blog Lovin’. To receive an email whenever I share a new post, sign up via feedburner here.